09/18/2025
9/20: The Feast Day of Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn and His Companions
Dear Beloved in Christ,
What a profound joy it is to share with you the remarkable story Saint Andrew Kim Taegŏn and the blessed lives of his martyred companions, more than a hundred laymen and priests who embraced Christ.
Theirs is a story of faith triumphing over persecution, courage conquering fear, and love proving stronger than death itself.
Picture, if you will, the extraordinary providence of God at work in 18th-century Korea. Unlike so many other nations where the Gospel arrived through foreign missionaries, the Catholic faith took root in Korea through the hunger of Korean scholars themselves. These brilliant minds, studying Chinese texts that contained Christian writings from Jesuit missionaries, found themselves captivated not by academic curiosity alone, but by the profound truth of Christ calling to their hearts.
Andrew's father was one of those captivated by the Word. Andrew was born into Korea's noble class in 1821 and witnessed his father martyred for the faith in 1839, and his great-grandfather killed for Christianity in 1814. Yet rather than flee from the cross, Andrew embraced it, body and soul, with unwavering determination. At 15, he was baptized and undertook an incredible 1,300-mile journey to seminary in Macau.
After formation in Macau and the Philippines, Andrew was ordained in 1845—Korea's very first native-born priest. He understood his ministry would likely be brief, as Christianity was absolutely forbidden under the Joseon Dynasty. Father Andrew was arrested in 1846 while guiding French missionaries into Korea. At only 25, facing ex*****on on the Han River banks, his final words revealed a true martyr's heart:
"This is my last hour of life... if I have held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and my God. It is for Him that I die. Become Christians if you wish to be happy after death."
Father Andrew was one of 10,000 Korean Christians martyred during those decades. Today, their sacrifice has borne magnificent fruit—South Korea now has more than 4 million Catholics in a thriving Church.
As we face our own challenges, Saint Andrew Kim also reminds us that age is no barrier to heroic sanctity and that true discipleship sometimes demands everything yet promises infinitely more than it costs.
On May 6, 1984, at the Yeouido square in Seoul, the celestial crown of holiness descended upon Saint Andrew Kim and his martyred companions as they were canonized by Saint John Paul II, in the first canonization ceremony outside the Vatican, among a large crowd of Korean Christians.
When Pope John Paul II canonized these 103 martyrs in Seoul on May 6, 1984, it drew the largest gathering in Korean peninsula history—a beautiful fulfillment of Tertullian's ancient words that "the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians."
Their witness teaches us that faith is worth dying for because it leads to life eternal. In our comfortable age, we may not face physical martyrdom, but we are all called to the daily martyrdom of dying to self, of choosing Christ over comfort, truth over popularity, virtue over convenience.
Let us ask these blessed martyrs—Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul and all his companions—to intercede for us, that we might have their courage, their fidelity, and their joyful confidence in Christ's victory over death.
May peace be with you...
Image Credit: oclarim.com
